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Sniper Rifles (VC1)
This article is about the Sniper Rifles in Valkyria Chronicles. For other uses, see Sniper Rifles (disambiguation). Military Sniper Rifles are the main weapon of the Sniper class and its sub-classes. Sniper Rifles are installed with fixed scopes that allow the sniper to zoom in to the target, increasing hit chance. The more zoom level a rifle scope has, the more it can zoom in and in effect the more accurate it will be. Gallian Sniper Rifles Circa 1935 'GSR' The GSR sniper rifle has its origins in a rifle made for use on horseback, built with all the know-how amassed during the Gallian-S's development. Its defining feature is a variable zoom sniper scope. Built in an era of semi-automatic hand guns, the fully manual bolt action GSR was half obsolete by the time it hit the production lines. But its exceptional firing accuracy and brilliantly made safety saw it continue to see use until the very end of EW1. 'Brondel' Unlike the GSR, built with the Gallian-S as its base, the Brondel was an entirely unique design. Its barrel and action were strengthened, and it was capable of firing reinforced rounds, but recoil issues led to a drop in firing accuracy. This model is also notable for the metal jacket covering its barrel, added both as reinforcement and to dissipate heat. It was named for Bernhardt M. Brondel, head of the Gallian National Arsenal. 'GSR-XX' By modifying and extending the barrel of the GSR, developers were able to achieve a much steadier bullet trajectory, while modifications made to the action itself further improved firing accuracy. Improving the gun's serviceability was also a priority, informed by real combat experience. All units were shipped with a cleaning rod and maintenance kit stored in the gunstock, meaning tools were never far from reach. In function and reliability, this line universally outperformed the original. 'Brondel X' Alterations to the Brondel's percussion enabled this model to fire specialty rounds. It also featured a redesigned barrel and a far sturdier action than its predecessor's. Though the additional weight of these upgrades posed several issues, its makers were largely able to resolve them before it saw production. Though its considerable weight at the testing phase gave it the unfortunate reputation for being unusable in combat, a lightened stock and pared-down barrel ultimately made its weight only slightly greater than that of the original line. 'Notes' *It's possible that the Brondel weapons were used to develop the Auto Sniper Rifles used in Valkyria Chronicles 2 by the Sniper Elites. Gallian Anti-tank Sniper Rifles Circa 1935 'ATR-XX' Captured Imperial Sniper Rifles Circa 1935 'ZM SG' The ZM SG was based on an infantry gun carried by many of the Empire's soldiers during EW1, particularly noted for its firing accuracy. The SG also featured a Rudolf Co. variable small arms scope. Lauded for its accuracy and uncommonly shock-resistant barrel, it first saw use with the Empire's mountain ranger units. Though the ZM SG's design allowed for a bayonet to be affixed under the muzzle, there are very few instances of it being used during the Second Europan War. Note: Weapons with a (g) are captured Imperial Sniper Rifle used by Gallian forces. 'ZM SG B' This rifle's action was redesigned to enable the use of specialty rounds. In order to suppress the negative effect of recoil on firing accuracy, the front grip was outfitted with an adjustable counterweight allowing users to manually alter the gun's center of balance. This line's increased complexity meant a rise in malfunction frequency, however, and both the quantity of units produced and the use it saw in actual combat were limited. Note: Weapons with a (g) are captured Imperial Sniper Rifle used by Gallian forces. 'ZM-SGA' The Imperials developed a Sniper Rifle which fires 3 shots in a row, but for a tradeoff, reduced Accuracy. The A stands for Auto. 'ZM-SGAT' The Imperials also developed an Anti-Tank sniper rifle. The AT stands for Anti-Tank. Strategies *A sniper rifle's zoom level is much more important than its aim rating. Because of this, GSR-1 is much more accurate than most other sniper rifles (GSR-2 included) with its high zoom ratio. Many players do not know they should not "upgrade" to GSR-2 because it is available as soon as sniper rifles are available. *GSR series are the baseline sniper rifles with more zoom level than Brondel. These are the most effective sniper rifles overall, as sniper rifles generally rely on high accuracy for effectiveness. *The Brondel sniper rifles upgrade damage over accuracy, and have lower zoom levels. These are not particularly useful, as higher damage/lower accuracy is a combination that is generally more suited to rapid-firing weapons used at close range. *The Brondel X sacrifices zoom, accuracy, and damage for the effect of reducing the enemy's aim. This effect is seldom of any use, however, as the typical usage of sniper rifles is to kill enemies in one hit, in which case status-reducing effects are pointless, and the aim down status effect is situational at best. *Like most imperial weapons, ZM SG have the lowest accuracy and range, but also the highest damage, out of all sniper rifles. Despite their low accuracy classes, they have higher zoom level than equivalent Gallian rifles and can be more accurate, which leaves range as their biggest limitation: ZM SG only has a range of 450 to 780, compared to the 1000 of the standard GSR-1. *The anti-tank rifles have the largest range of all anti-tank weapons, as well as the highest accuracy. They lack, however, the damage potential to take out anything beyond light tanks. They are most effective in levels where the player does not have (sufficient) tank support (such as in many expert skirmishes), as anti-tank rifles are very effective when used to take out fixed machine gun positions and to fire on radiators. They are also effective at taking out a tank's treads, since it treads will be taken out in 1 shot anyway. In sniper maps (such as the second battle of Vasel), they are also very effective in combination with a second, conventional sniper: the at-sniper can take out the cover and the second sniper takes out the enemy itself. *Zoom levels and accuracy rating do not matter for Marina once her Ultimate Accuracy potential is unlocked, as she will have pinpoint accuracy regardless of the weapon. In this case, only the damage and range matters. *Marina's high accuracy comes in handy in the late game, since if sniper doesn't zoom at all on an enemy, their target won't dodge. This is fully confirmed only in the Gallian Crossfire mod, thanks to Dainegai. Further testing in Vanilla Valkyria Chronicles will be carried out and referenced from youtube - Only Marina is accurate enough to take advantage of this. Trivia *The belated development of the Anti-Tank rifle may preclude it from further development in Valkyria's universe. In real life, anti-tank rifles were declared obsolete sometime around 1942, because the armor tanks were using were getting too thick to penetrate at respectable range. *Out of all the weapons featured in game the GSR series has the clearest influence from an existent weapon. Externally it is almost identical in appearance to the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III rifle, save for a different sling mount and a different, non-Lee, action which one can speculate as being Mauser influenced. Also to note there was an actual Mauser-Enfield hybrid rifle used by the Turkish military, however it was the Lee action mated to a rifle stock and barrel as used by a Mauser rifle. *The claim that a bolt-action rifle would be considered "half-obsolete" at the level of technology seen in Valkyria Chronicles is a little odd; even today, semi-automatic sniper rifles struggle to match the performance of bolt-actions, and the handful that can tend to be prohibitively expensive. * The ZM SG's designation probably comes from the German "Schützengewehr", literally "shooter rifle" but usually translated as "sniper rifle," and abbreviated as SG in designations such as PSG-1 and MSG-90. * The (g) ("Gallian") suffix used on captured Imperial weapons is based on a code system the Germans used for captured weapons in WW2, but is reversed: the German system used the suffix to identify which country a weapon came from (for example, suppressed Sten guns in German use were called "MP751(e)" while PPSh-41s were "MP717®"), while in-game it is used to identify which country is now using it. This is borne out by the (e) ("Edinburgh") suffix being used instead in Valkyria Chronicles 4. References Category:Weapons